Monday, October 1, 2012

Knowledge, Wisdom, Understanding

"Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding." ~ Proverbs 4:7

"As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams." ~ Daniel 1:17

I'm studying the difference and significance of knowledge, wisdom and understanding. Why did God put them in that order? What is the difference between them?

I stumbled upon another blog (The Agapegeek Blog) that had an interesting post on the difference between them. I'm not saying this is accurate (because I just read it and need to do more research), but it is definitely something to think about and he makes some profound statements such as:
We can begin to see why understanding is so critical, without understanding all you have is a religion and religious people with a bunch of random facts.   This was an example of the Jewish leadership of Jesus’ day.  These men knew a lot of facts written in their law, but understood practically none of them.  Too many so called Christian are just people with some knowledge of some random facts.  They do not understand how they fit together, or how they work, or why they are in the Bible, how they relate to God, how they relate to them, why they are important to know and on and on I could go.  The Bible is so much more complex than you just reading a verse and you thinking that you got it and know everything you need to know.  So getting understanding is a critical piece of the bigger puzzle.  Start by learning the facts and then grow to understand what each of them mean and how they relate together.  Continue to grow and understand how they apply to you specifically.  Only by understanding who you are in Christ, why Jesus died on the cross, who Jesus was, and all of the other important subjects in the Bible will you ever be able to achieve to the wisdom of God.
 I would love for you to read the post and share your thoughts here! I think much can be gained by discussion of scripture and we may all grow in understanding by sharing with one another our interpretations.

I hope to continue posting my thoughts on the subject (and maybe more thoughts from others), so keep checking back and sharing your thoughts!

1 comment:

  1. Interesting...one would have to really think about this. It doesn't make sense, however, "Continue to grow and understand how they apply to you specifically." Shouldn't it be "how it applies to ALL Christians"? I understand we are each unique...but??

    Will be watching for more comments/discussion on this.
    Thanks for sharing.
    Blessings,

    ReplyDelete